Universal plug and play based network system and method of controlling the same

ABSTRACT

A universal plug and play (UPnP)-based network system and a method of controlling the same. A UPnP device can operate according to a description of each control point (CP) when performing a command, by including the description, which is inherent information of each CP, in a command message transmitted from each CP to the UPnP device and allowing the UPnP device to analyze the command message to obtain the description of the CP. The UPnP-based network system includes a plurality of CPs, each of which stores a CP description, which is inherent characteristic information of each CP, and generates and transmits a command message including the CP description, and a UPnP device which is connected to the plurality of CPs over a network, analyzes the command message received from each CP to perform an operation according to the command message, and analyzes the CP description included in the command message to recognize each CP which transmits the command message.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No.2006-100835, filed on Oct. 17, 2006 in the Korean Intellectual PropertyOffice, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entiretyby reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present general inventive concept relates to a Universal Plug andPlay (UPnP)—based network system, and, more particularly, to aUPnP-based network system including control points to control anoperation of a UPnP device to perform the operation by a command of eachof the control points, and a method of controlling the same.

2. Description of the Related Art

Recently, in home or offices, peripheral devices, such as scanners,multifunctional devices or printers, are connected to a host devicethrough a local area network (LAN) so as to allow a plurality of usersto share the peripheral devices.

Such a network environment, a Universal Plug and Play (hereinafter,referred to as UPnP) technology has come into the spotlight as astandard of a technology for mutually operating the devices. Manydevices have already used the UPnP technology.

In the UPnP technology, for example, a UPnP device for supporting theUPnP operates according to a command message generated by a controlpoint (hereinafter, referred to as CP) which acts as a host devicethrough a network. The CP is indicative of the host device, such as acomputer, a television set, a video cassette recorder (VCR), arefrigerator, a microwave oven or a washing machine.

The CP generates the command message using inherent information of theUPnP device, but the UPnP device operates only using the commandmessage, without distinguishing the CP from other CPs. That is, it isimpossible to determine which one of CPs generates and transmits thecommand message to perform a current operation.

Accordingly, when the UPnP device is a printer, the UPnP printer cannotdisplay information as to whether the command message is output from adigital television set or a personal computer on a liquid crystaldisplay (LCD) of the printer. Even when the command message is outputfrom a neighboring house included in the same network, the UPnP printeroperates without distinguishing the CP. This is because means forchecking which CP outputs the current command message is not included inthe UPnP printer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present general inventive concept provides a UPnP-based networksystem, which is capable of allowing a UPnP device to use CP informationwhen the UPnP device operates according to a command by transmitting theCP information as well as the command from a CP to the UPnP device, anda method of controlling the same.

Additional aspects and/or advantages of the present general inventiveconcept will be set forth in part in the description which follows and,in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned bypractice of the general inventive concept.

The above and/or other aspects of the present general inventive conceptcan be achieved by providing a Universal Plug and Play (UPnP)-basednetwork system including a plurality of control points (CPs), each ofwhich stores a CP description, which is inherent characteristicinformation of each CP, and generates and transmits a command messageincluding the CP description, and a UPnP device which is connected tothe plurality of CPs through a network, analyzes the command messagereceived from each CP to perform an operation according to the commandmessage, and analyzes the CP description included in the command messageto recognize one of the CPs which transmits the command message.

Each of the plurality of CPs may include a device description analysisunit which receives a device description, which is inherentcharacteristic information of the UPnP device, from the UPnP device andanalyzes which function the UPnP device performs, a user operation unitwhich allows a user to input information for generating the commandmessage, a CP description storage unit which stores the CP description,a command message generation unit which generates the command messageincluding the CP description and the information input by the user so asto operate the UPnP device according to the analyzed device description,and a data transmission/reception unit which receives the devicedescription from the UPnP device and transmits the command messagegenerated by each of the plurality of CPs to the UPnP device.

The UPnP device may include a device description storage unit whichstores the device description, a command message analysis unit whichanalyzes the command message received from each of the plurality of CPs,a CP description analysis unit which analyzes the CP descriptionincluded in the analyzed command message; an additional informationstorage unit which stores additional information for controlling anadditional operation corresponding to each of the CPs, an output controlunit which searches for and acquires the additional informationcorresponding to the analyzed CP description and outputs a commandobtained by combining the acquired additional information and theanalyzed command message, an output operation unit which performs theoperation according to a control signal of the output control unit, anda data transmission/reception unit which transmits the devicedescription to each CP and receives the command message generated byeach of the plurality of CPs.

Each of the plurality of CPs may generate the command message includingCP description position information indicating a storage position of theCP description.

Each of the plurality of CPs may generate the command message includingthe CP description.

The UPnP device may be a UPnP printer.

The foregoing and/or other aspects of the present general inventiveconcept may also be achieved by providing a method of controlling aUniversal Plug and Play (UPnP)-based network system including aplurality of control points (CPs) each of which transmits a commandmessage to operate a UPnP device which is connected to the plurality ofCPs through a network to receive the command message and perform anoperation, the method including generating the command message includinga CP description which is inherent characteristic information of each CPat each of the plurality of CPs, receiving the generated command messageand analyzing the CP description included in the command message at theUPnP device, searching for previously stored additional informationcorresponding to the analyzed CP description, and performing anoperation corresponding to the searched additional information whenperforming an operation required by the command message.

The foregoing and/or other aspects of the present general inventiveconcept may also be achieved by providing a method of controlling aUniversal Plug and Play (UPnP)-based network system including aplurality of control points (CPs) to operate a UPnP device which isconnected to the plurality of CPs through a network to receive thecommand message and perform an operation, the method includinggenerating the command message including CP description positioninformation indicating a storage position of a CP description which isinherent characteristic information of each CP at each of the pluralityof CPs, receiving the generated command message and receiving the CPdescription stored in the storage position indicated by the CPdescription position information included in the command message at theUPnP device, analyzing the received CP description, searching forpreviously stored additional information corresponding to the analyzedCP description, and performing an operation corresponding to thesearched additional information when performing an operation required bythe command message.

The foregoing and/or other aspects of the present general inventiveconcept may also be achieved by providing a universal plug and play(UPnP)-based network system including a control point to store a CPdescription and to transmit a command message together with the CPdescription to an external UPnP device, so that the external UPnP deviceperforms an operation according to the command message and recognizesthe control point sending the command message.

The control point may receive a device description, which is inherentcharacteristic information of the external UPnP device, from the UPnPdevice, analyze which function of the UPnP device performs according tothe device description, and generate the CP description according to theanalyzed function of the UPnP device.

The UPnP device may include a UPnP printer, and the device descriptionmay include a description of the UPnP printer.

The control point may include a user operation unit through whichinformation to generate the command message is input, a CP descriptionstorage unit to store the CP description, a command message generationunit to generate the command message including the CP description andthe input information so as to operate the UPnP device, and a datatransmission/reception unit to transmit the command message to the UPnPdevice.

The information to generate the command message may include one or moreattribute values of the command message to perform the operation in theexternal UPnP device.

The control point may generate the command message including CPdescription position information to indicate a storage position of theCP description.

The CP description may include at least one of a control point name, aproduct name, a control point device name, a URL address, a location, amanufacturer, and a product serial number.

The foregoing and/or other aspects of the present general inventiveconcept may also be achieved by providing a universal plug and play(UPnP)-based network system including a UPnP device to receive a commandmessage including a CP description from the external control point andto perform an operation according to the command message and torecognize the external control point according to the CP description.

The UPnP device may generate a device description to the externalcontrol point so that the external control point generates the commandmessage according to the device description.

The device description may include inherent characteristic of the UPnPdevice.

The device description may include one or more services to be performedin the UPnP device.

The device description may include one or more operable commands toperform one or more operations in the UPnP device.

The UPnP device may store additional information on the external controlpoint and transmit the device description to the external control pointaccording to the stored additional information.

The additional information may include one or more image filescorresponding to a type of the external control point.

The additional information may include a screen size to be displayed ona display according to a type of the external control point.

The additional information may include an output allowance optioncorresponding to a location of the external control point.

The operation may include a printing operation to print an imageaccording to data transmitted from the external control point.

The foregoing and/or other aspects of the present general inventiveconcept may also be achieved by providing a method of a universal plugand play (UPnP)-based network system, the method including storing a CPdescription about a control point, and transmitting a command messagewith the CP description to an external UPnP device, so that the externalUPnP device performs an operation according to the command message andrecognizes the control point sending to command message.

The foregoing and/or other aspects of the present general inventiveconcept may also be achieved by providing a method of a universal plugand play (UPnP)-based network system, the method including receiving acommand message including a CP description of an external control pointfrom the external control point, performing an operation according tothe command message, and recognizing the external control pointaccording to the CP description.

The foregoing and/or other aspects of the present general inventiveconcept may also be achieved by providing a computer readable recordingmedium containing computer readable codes as a program to execute amethod of a universal plug and play (UPnP)-based network system, themethod including storing a CP description about a control point, andtransmitting a command message with the CP description to an externalUPnP device, so that the external UPnP device performs an operationaccording to the command message and recognizes the control pointsending to command message.

The foregoing and/or other aspects of the present general inventiveconcept may also be achieved by providing a computer readable recordingmedium containing computer readable codes as a program to execute amethod of a universal plug and play (UPnP)-based network system, themethod comprising: receiving a command message including a CPdescription of an external control point from the external controlpoint, performing an operation according to the command message, andrecognizing the external control point according to the CP description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other aspects and advantages of the present generalinventive concept will become apparent and more readily appreciated fromthe following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction withthe accompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a UPnP-based network systemaccording to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a UPnP-based networksystem according to the embodiment of the present general inventiveconcept;

FIG. 3 is a view illustrating an example of information which may beincluded in a CP description stored in a CP description storage unit;

FIG. 4 is a view illustrating an example of additional informationstored in an additional information storage unit shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 5 is a view illustrating another example of the additionalinformation stored in the additional information storage unit shown inFIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the presentgeneral inventive concept, examples of which are illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the likeelements throughout. The embodiments are described below to explain thepresent general inventive concept by referring to the figures.

Hereinafter, a case where a UPnP device is a printer will be describedas a preferred embodiment.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a UPnP-based network systemaccording to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept. Asillustrated in FIG. 1, the UPnP-based network system according to theembodiment of the present general inventive concept includes a CP 100 totransmit a command message to control a UPnP printer, and the UPnPprinter 200 connected to the CP 100 through a network, to receive thecommand message from the CP 100, and to perform an output operationaccording to the received command message. The network may be a wire orwireless network.

The CP 100 includes a printer description analysis unit 110, a useroperation unit 120, a command message generation unit 130, a datatransmission/reception unit 140, and a CP description storage unit 150.

The printer description analysis unit 110 receives a description of theUPnP printer 200 from the UPnP printer 200 and analyzes a function to beperformed in the UPnP printer 200.

The user operation unit 120 allows a user to input an attribute value togenerate the command message.

The command message generation unit 130 generates the command messageaccording to a service which can be provided by the UPnP printer 200 andprepares the command message including a description indicating inherentcharacteristic information of the CP 100. That is, the command messagegeneration unit 130 analyzes an action (operation) to be supported orperformed in the UPnP printer 200 via the printer description receivedfrom the UPnP printer 200 and generates the command message to perform adesired action. The command message includes information (image datainformation or the like) input by the user, and CP information.

The data transmission/reception unit 140 transmits and/or receivesinformation to and/or from the UPnP printer 200, that is, receives theprinter description from the UPnP printer 200 and transmits the commandmessage generated in the CP 100 to the UPnP printer 200. In addition tothe command message, the data transmission/reception unit 140 alsotransmits print data to the UPnP printer 200 to print an image on aprinting medium according to the print data.

The CP description storage unit 150 stores the description which is theinherent characteristic information of the CP, that is, storesinformation on a device including the CP 100.

The UPnP printer 200 includes a printer description storage unit 210, acommand message analysis unit 220, a data transmission/reception unit230, an output control unit 240, an output operation unit 250, a CPdescription analysis unit 260, and an additional information storageunit 270.

The printer description storage unit 210 stores the description which isinherent information of the UPnP printer 200, such as services (operablecommands) provided by the current UPnP printer 200 and the position ofthe UPnP printer 200.

The command message analysis unit 220 receives and analyzes the commandmessage transmitted from the CP 100, extracts the CP information fromthe command message, and sends the CP information to the CP descriptionanalysis unit 260.

The data transmission/reception unit 230 receives the command messageand the print data transmitted from the CP 100 and the sends the commandmessage and the print data to the output control unit 240. The datatransmission/reception unit 230 further transmits the printerdescription to the CP 100.

The output control unit 240 determines an operation method by combiningthe command message analyzed by the command message analysis unit 220,the print data, and additional information associated with the CPacquired via the additional information storage unit 270 and outputs acommand to the output operation unit 250.

The output operation unit 250 performs an actual output operation, suchas printing, according to the command of the output control unit 240.The actual output operation may include printing an image using aprinting unit or displaying an identity of the CP 100 according to theCP description on a display unit of the UPnP printer 200

The CP description analysis unit 260 analyzes the CP descriptionreceived from the command message analysis unit 220.

The additional information storage unit 270 stores the additionalinformation which varies according to the CP 100. The additionalinformation may be, for example, image information to be displayed on aliquid crystal display (LCD) upon the output operation, outputdisallowance according to a CP name, identification information or alocation or the like, according to the type of the CP. The additionalinformation may be stored in different forms using the CP description,in accordance with the service provided by the UPnP printer 200.

The present embodiment may include four operations of, at the CP 100,generating the command message including the CP description, at the UPnPprinter 200, receiving the command message and analyzing the CPdescription, at the UPnP printer 200, searching for the previouslystored additional information corresponding to the analyzed CPdescription, and, at the UPnP printer 200, applying the searchedadditional information to the output operation.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a UPnP-based networksystem according to the embodiment of the present general inventiveconcept.

Hereinafter, the operation illustrated in FIG. 2 will be described withreference to FIG. 1.

The CP 100 performs generating the command message including the CPdescription (S200, S100, S101 and S102), and the UPnP printer 200connected to the CP over the network transmits the description of theUPnP printer 200 in operation S200. The CP 100 receives the descriptionof the UPnP printer 200, recognizes the UPnP printer 200 at operationS100, and analyzes the description of the UPnP printer 200 at operationS101. That is, the CP 100 determines which type of the UPnP printer 200is used and which action is provided by the analysis of the descriptionof the UPnP printer 200. The CP 100 determines the type of the commandmessage by the analysis of the description of the UPnP printer 200 andgenerates the command message including information input by the userand the CP description in operation S102. As illustrated in FIG. 3, forexample, the CP description includes a CP name, a product name, a URLaddress, a location, a manufacturer, and a product serial number (S/N).The CP transmits the generated command message to the UPnP printer 200in operation S103.

The UPnP printer 200 performs receiving the command message andanalyzing the CP description (S201 and S202), and the UPnP printer 200analyzes the command message received from the CP in operation S201, andextracts and analyzes the CP description to obtain the inherentinformation on the device including the CP in operation S202.

The UPnP printer 200 performs searching for the previously storedadditional information corresponding to the analyzed CP description(S203). That is, the UPnP printer 200 searches for the additionalinformation corresponding to the analyzed CP description in theadditional information stored in the additional information storage unit270 in operation S203. That is, the UPnP printer 200 searches for theadditional information necessary for the output operation, which isstored in the additional information storage unit 270, using the CPdescription analyzed by the CP description analysis unit. The UPnPprinter 200 sends the searched additional information and the print datareceived from the CP 100 to the output control unit 240 in operationS204. As illustrated in FIG. 4, for example, the additional informationmay be stored in forms of respective image files (PC_Printing.jpg,D-TV_Printing.jpg, Mobile_Printing.jpg, Default_Printing.jpg)corresponding to the types of the CPs (PC, Digital TV, Mobile phone andDefault) such that different screens can be displayed upon the outputoperation according to the type of the CP simultaneously, sequentially,or separately. Alternatively, as illustrated in FIG. 5, in a lodgingusing one network, if an output service is provided using each CPprovided in each room, the additional information may be stored in formsof respective output allowance options (multi-color output, outputdisallowance and monochrome output) corresponding to the locations ofthe CPs (Room501-508, Room509-510 and Default) such that the output canbe restricted according to a lodging charge. The additional informationstorage method is only an example of using the description of the CP andother methods may be used.

The UPnP printer 200 performs applying the searched additionalinformation to the output operation (S204, S205 and S206). That is, theUPnP printer 200 receives the print data from the CP 100, combines thereceived print data, the basic attribute values of the output operationincluded in the command message and the searched additional information,and controls the output operation in operations S204 to S206. That is,the print operation required by the command message is performed, and anoperation corresponding to the searched additional information issimultaneously performed when the print operation is performed.

Although a printer to support the UPnP is described in theabove-described embodiment, the present general inventive concept is notlimited to the printer and may apply to all UPnP devices requiring CPinformation.

Although the CP directly transmits the CP description to the UPnP deviceby including CP description in the command message when the CP transmitsthe command message to the UPnP device in the above-describedembodiment, the present invention is not limited to the above-describedembodiment. By including only CP description position informationindicating the storage position of the CP description in the commandmessage transmitted from the CP to the UPnP device, the CP may transmitonly the CP description position information to the UPnP device and theUPnP device may receive the CP description stored in the CP from the CPaccording to the CP description position information.

As described above, according to the present invention, a UPnP devicecan operate in conformity with a description of each CP when performinga command, by including the description, which is inherent informationof each CP, in a command message transmitted from each CP to the UPnPdevice and allowing the UPnP device to analyze the command message toobtain the description of the CP.

The present general inventive concept can also be embodied ascomputer-readable codes on a computer-readable recording medium. Thecomputer-readable recording medium is any data storage device that canstore data which can be thereafter read by a computer system. Examplesof the computer-readable recording media include read-only memory (ROM),random-access memory (RAM), CD-ROMs, magnetic tapes, floppy disks,optical data storage devices, and carrier waves (such as datatransmission through the Internet). The computer-readable recordingmedium can also be distributed over network-coupled computer systems sothat the computer-readable code is stored and executed in a distributedfashion. Also, functional programs, codes, and code segments toaccomplish the present general inventive concept can be easily construedby programmers skilled in the art to which the present general inventiveconcept pertains.

According to the present embodiment, the UPnP device can obtain the CPdescription such as device information, identification information,manufacturer information, location information and perform a variety ofadditional operations in conformity with each CP. In addition, since arestriction varies according to an actual operation, a variety ofservices can be provided.

Although a few embodiments of the present general inventive concept havebeen shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled inthe art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departingfrom the principles and spirit of the general inventive concept, thescope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.

1. A universal plug and play (UPnP)-based network system comprising: acontrol point to store a CP description and to transmit a commandmessage together with the CP description to an external UPnP device, sothat the external UPnP device performs an operation according to thecommand message and recognizes the control point sending the commandmessage.
 2. The UPnP-based network system according to claim 1, whereinthe control point receives a device description, which is inherentcharacteristic information of the external UPnP device, from the UPnPdevice, analyzes which function of the UPnP device performs according tothe device description, and generates the CP description according tothe analyzed function of the UPnP device.
 3. The UPnP-based networksystem according to claim 2, wherein the UPnP device comprises a UPnPprinter, and the device description comprises a description of the UPnPprinter.
 4. The UPnP-based network system according to claim 1, whereinthe control point comprises: a user operation unit through whichinformation to generate the command message is input; a CP descriptionstorage unit to store the CP description; a command message generationunit to generate the command message including the CP description andthe input information so as to operate the UPnP device; and a datatransmission/reception unit to transmit the command message to the UPnPdevice.
 5. The UPnP-based network system according to claim 4, whereinthe information to generate the command message comprises one or moreattribute values of the command message to perform the operation in theexternal UPnP device.
 6. The UPnP-based network system according toclaim 1, wherein the control point generates the command messageincluding CP description position information to indicate a storageposition of the CP description.
 7. The UPnP-based network systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the CP description comprises at least oneof a control point name, a product name, a control point device name, aURL address, a location, a manufacturer, and a product serial number. 8.A universal plug and play (UPnP)-based network system comprising: a UPnPdevice to receive a command message including a CP description from theexternal control point and to perform an operation according to thecommand message and to recognize the external control point according tothe CP description.
 9. The UPnP-based network system according to claim8, wherein the UPnP device generates a device description to theexternal control point so that the external control point generates thecommand message according to the device description.
 10. The UPnP-basednetwork system according to claim 9, wherein the device descriptioncomprises inherent characteristic of the UPnP device.
 11. The UPnP-basednetwork system according to claim 9, wherein the device descriptioncomprises one or more services to be performed in the UPnP device. 12.The UPnP-based network system according to claim 9, wherein the devicedescription comprises one or more operable commands to perform one ormore operations in the UPnP device.
 13. The UPnP-based network systemaccording to claim 9, wherein the UPnP device stores additionalinformation on the external control point and transmits the devicedescription to the external control point according to the storedadditional information.
 14. The UPnP-based network system according toclaim 9, wherein the additional information comprises one or more imagefiles corresponding to a type of the external control point.
 15. TheUPnP-based network system according to claim 9, wherein the additionalinformation comprises a screen size to be displayed on a displayaccording to a type of the external control point.
 16. The UPnP-basednetwork system according to claim 9, wherein the additional informationcomprises an output allowance option corresponding to a location of theexternal control point.
 17. The UPnP-based network system according toclaim 8, wherein the operation comprises a printing operation to printan image according to data transmitted from the external control point.18. A method of a universal plug and play (UPnP)-based network system,the method comprising: storing a CP description about a control point;and transmitting a command message with the CP description to anexternal UPnP device, so that the external UPnP device performs anoperation according to the command message and recognizes the controlpoint sending to command message.
 19. A method of a universal plug andplay (UPnP)-based network system, the method comprising: receiving acommand message including a CP description of an external control pointfrom the external control point; performing an operation according tothe command message; and recognizing the external control pointaccording to the CP description.